Members of suicide squad yet to be traced

Although four years have passed since the day two judges were killed in a suicide bomb blast in Jhalakati, five of the six-member suicide squad remain untraced.
Shaheed Sohel Ahmed, senior assistant judge of Nalchhiti upazila, and Jagannath Pandey, senior assistant judge of the Sadar upazila, were killed in the blast when the microbus carrying them to the court was blown up.
The other member of the suicide squad, Iftekhar Hasan Al Mamun, was critically injured in the blast.
Soon after the blast, in his confessional statement at Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College and Hospital, Mamun named Arif, Mehedi, Muazza, Talha and Mahmud as his accomplices.
Md Muzibur Rahman Nantu, former special public prosecutor of Barisal Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal, yesterday told The Daily Star that the investigation officer (IO) of the case couldn't identify the accomplices of Mamun. So, the IO could not include them in the charge sheet.
However, Mamun was executed on March 29, 2007 along with top Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) leaders, including Shaikh Abdur Rahman and Siddikur Rahman alias Bangla Bhai.
To mark the day, family members, relatives and colleagues of the slain judges and Barisal, Jhalakati and Bhola bar associations will chalk out various programmes, including discussions, Qurankhwani and milad mahfil.
Wreathes will be placed at the grave of Judge Sohel Ahmed in Bhola while special prayers will be offered on the crematorium premises of Judge Jagadish Pandey in Barisal.